Tag Archives: life changes

In addition to this blog, I do a monthly post on the ROMANCE GEMS blog site and for the past two months I’ve written about the explosion of audiobooks in publishing. You can read those posts here if you’d like: March and April. Especially popular with Millenials, who are never far away from their ear buds and devices, offering a book in audio is oftentimes a tedious process. If an author is lucky enough to find the perfect narrator to bring his/her book to life, that’s the equivalent – in my mind – of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or a unicorn!

If you’ve read any of the books you know the family hails from NYC, is of strong Italian heritage, and doesn’t mince words – either in English or Italian! You can listen to a sample of her reading from A Kiss Under the Christmas Lights here. Just click on the Audible Sample on the left side of the page.

Because I adore the way Anna Marie narrates, I wanted to introduce her to the blog reading world, so she agreed to write up a little sumthin’ sumthin’ about her journey to the fun career.

Here’s Anna Marie Peloso in her own words….

My journey into narration began after my husband took a trip to Sweetwater Studios in Indiana. Now for those who don’t know, Sweetwater is a music emporium; everything music. My husband was there to have a private recording session with Eric Johnson, an all time favorite of his. Sweetwater arranges these sessions and it’s really awesome. While there my husband had many conversations with those also in attendance about voice-over work. Intrigued, my husband asked a lot of questions because he thought that might be something I would really enjoy.

Upon my husband’s return home he told me all about his experience and then shared all that he learned about voice-over work. I was immediately interested and we began looking into how I could start.

My husband is the one who actually set up my room/closet to record in and all the bells and whistles. There is a lot to consider when beginning this kind of work and I’m very fortunate my husband knows a lot about the gadgets and would be able to do the work to master my finished recordings. ACX is very popular and so we read up on them and decided to start with them to see how this all would go. Being new can be very intimidating, but I set up my profile and started to read about available manuscripts looking for a narrator. I selected three and followed the proper protocol for submitting an audition. It’s all very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time, cause now you wait…until you get a notification stating that you have been hired!

And that is how my lifelong love of reading became what I do today and I get to call myself a Narrator.

You can visit Anna Marie’s website and listen to some of the books she’s already narrated here. Currently, she’s working on my next San Valentino audible selection, CHRISTMAS & CANNOLIS and I hope to be able to offer it on Audible soon!!!! Stay tuned for more info coming your way about this!

My thanks to Anna Marie for allowing me to introduce her here, and for being the perfect person to bring the San Valentino family to life!

Today is release day for one of my favorite authors ( and a bunch of her writing pals!) Katie O’Sullivan.

This multi-published, uber-talented writer is a one-click author or me whenever she has a new book releasing because they are always goodies, but I am also honored to call her a friend.

Katie’s part of new anthology titled: AFTER HURRICANE NINA (The HOT HUNK STEAMY ROMANCE COLLECTION). Her contribution is QUINN’S RESOLUTIONand it’s fabulous. You can read my review here: Quinn

Eight Strangers. Eight Unique Stories. All Stand-alone Novels.

On November 30, 2016, Hurricane Nina hit Bali, Indonesia. In the aftermath of death and destruction, eight strong sexy men will realize it’s time for a change in their lives. A resolution of sorts. A contractor, a personal trainer, a millionaire, a stuntman, a rock star, a thrill-seeker, an army veteran, and a trust fund prodigal will all find a way to conquer their loss and learn to love.

This is Quinn’s story.

Resolution: To find his way back to the music.

Quinn MacDonald had it made. With a record label deal and their first single skyrocketing up the charts, his indie punk band is finally getting a taste of rock and roll fame. Bikini-clad women and bottomless bottles of booze fill endless days… until their hotel collapses during a hurricane. He’s still under contract but as far as he’s concerned, the music died along with the rest of his band.

Life has never been easy for Phoebe Snow. Working three minimum wage jobs barely keeps a roof over her head while she and her band struggle to get noticed. But on stage, nothing matters but the music in her heart.

When her band plays a cover of one of his hits, Quinn is blown away. Can Phoebe be the inspiration he needs for more than just writing songs?

Excerpt

On the open-air stage in Times Square, Quinn MacDonald was making a very different resolution for the fast-approaching new year. As he stood there with a fake smile plastered on his face, listening to Wiz Khalifa spout on about some after-party, Quinn vowed he would never sing on stage in public again. No matter what the fucking studio executives said, they couldn’t make him do this. Rock stars don’t cry on national television, for fuck’s sake.

He felt raw. Exposed. Alone.

And the duet with Demi Lovato? Someone had to have planned that ahead of time without telling him a thing. There’s no such thing as spontaneous singing for television cameras. Certainly not on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. So let’s add feeling “used” into the mix.

He didn’t like it. It was… wrong.

Sure, he’d promote the album. It was part of the contract he signed. He owed that much to the memory of his friends, and to their families. But as far as Quinn was concerned, the music died in the hurricane along with the rest of his band.

Katie O’Sullivan is an award winning writer with a dozen books to her credit, including My Kind of Crazy, Ghosts Don’t Lie, Breaking the Rules, and the Son of a Mermaid series for young teen readers: Descent, Defiance, Deception, and the yet to be released Destiny (Coming soon.) (Hopefully.)

A recovering English major, she earned her degree at Colgate University and now lives on Cape Cod with her family and big dogs, drinking way too much coffee and finding new uses for all the sea glass she obsessively collects from the beach. She writes YA and romantic suspense novels, as well as working full time for a high tech company. Which explains all the coffee.